A core part of our work is to get the black community more active.
Exercise can be very intimidating for many people and thus we sought to explore various options on how we could get people active in a way that could be incorporated into everyday life and would ultimately be fun.
Cycling is an interesting option as it is very practical and can be introduced into a person’s life as a method of transport (commuting to work), as a leisure activity (exploring the local area) and as a form of structured exercise.
Through our cycling club we were able to show that if cycling is presented to members of the BME community without any barriers (bikes and helmets provided) they will happily take up this activity and easily meet the government’s recommended amount of physical activity.
One important point to note is that the social aspect of the club was very important. It would appear that our group of BME cyclists looked at cycling as more of a leisure activity rather than a method of transport or structured exercise. This suggests that to encourage more people from a BME background to cycle projects that promote cycling for leisure rather than for commuting and exercise are more likely to appeal to the BME community; and these projects would need to be group activities that promote social interaction.
You can read a summary of our cycling club project here
If you’d like to take part in a cycling activity and live in the Croydon area, look out for the Cycling Instructor’s bikeability sessions. Find out more about this here
We are very grateful to Sport England for funding this project and Cycling Instructor for their advice and support.
